Team Preview in VGC 2015
You’ve finally built your team to start battling online, but once the opposing team is displayed on your screen, you’re shaking like a leaf. Don’t worry, it’s normal! It’s always difficult to get started in a format, and this is even more the case in VGC, a format that is full of diverse and varied threats.
This guide will help you choose your composition during the Team Preview, that decisive minute and a half for the entire fight.
Team Preview Guide with Bean
What is Team Preview?
During a competitive or ranked battle, you have exactly 90 seconds to choose your composition, in other words the 2 Pokémon that you send out first, commonly called the “lead”, as well as the 2 Pokémon that you select to complete the team, commonly called the “back”.
The “raw” information given during the Team Preview is: the species of each Pokémon (as well as a possible alternate form), the gender of each Pokémon (information that has very little strategic interest) and the level of each Pokémon (some Pokémon can be played at level 1 as “FEAR”, but these will never work against an experienced player). A Pokémon not holding an item will not have the yellow and blue icon at the bottom right, the absence of an item always indicates a lack of preparation of a player, a mistake too common among beginners.
When battling online with a friend, the Team Preview is longer, which is why you will rarely feel pressure outside of ranked battles. It may seem like a long time to choose 4 Pokémon out of 6, but every competitive player knows how quickly those 90 seconds go by.
A very important information that some high-level players still ignore: when you don’t have time to make a decision, the game will NOT decide randomly. The game will always select the first possible option(s). If you don’t take any action during the Team Preview, the game will automatically send the 2 top Pokémon of your team as lead, then the 2 middle Pokémon as back. The idea is the same during the fight, the game will automatically choose the attack on the top left of the Pokémon and target the opposing Pokémon on the left.
